Langona minima is a species of jumping spider in the genus Langona that lives in Kenya. The spider was first described by Ludovico di Caporiacco in 1949. The female is typically 3.2 mm (0.13 in) long and generally brown. The species can be distinguished from other similar species by its copulatory organs, and particularly the triangular depression in its epigyne. The male has not been described.
| Langona minima | |
|---|---|
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| A spider of the genus Langona | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Subfamily: | Salticinae |
| Genus: | Langona |
| Species: | L. minima
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| Binomial name | |
| Langona minima Caporiacco, 1949
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Taxonomy
editLangona minima is a jumping spider first described by Ludovico di Caporiacco in 1949.[1] He placed the species in the genus Langona, which he also first described by Eugène Simon in 1901.[2] The genus was listed in the subtribe Aelurillina in the tribe Aelurillini by Wayne Maddison in 2015. These were allocated to the clade Saltafresia.[3] In 2017, the genus was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines.[4] It is particularly closely related to the genus Aelurillus, after which the subtribe, tribe and group are named.[5]
Description
editThe spider is small with a typical body length of 3.2 mm (0.13 in). The female has a brown cephalothorax that is about 1.82 mm (0.072 in) long. It has a black-brown clypeus. The sternum is brown but the other mouth parts are red-brown.[6] The abdomen is also generally brown, about 1.4 mm (0.055 in) long and has an oval rear. The underside is lighter. The legs are generally brown with long brown spines. The spider has a yellow pedipalp with an epigyne that has a central triangular depression.[6] The structure of the copulatory organs distinguishes it from other Langona species.[5] The male has not been described.[1]
Distribution
editLangona minima is endemic to Kenya.[1] The holotype was found near Nairobi in 1944.[6] It is only found in this locality.[7]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ a b c World Spider Catalog (2017). "Langona minima Caporiacco, 1949". World Spider Catalog. 18.0. Bern: Natural History Museum. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
- ^ Caporiacco 1949, p. 472.
- ^ Maddison 2015, p. 279.
- ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 95.
- ^ a b Wesołowska 2007, p. 783.
- ^ a b c Caporiacco 1949, p. 473.
- ^ Kioko et al. 2021, p. 156.
Bibliography
edit- Caporiacco, Ludovico di (1949). "Aracnidi della colonia del Kenya raccolti da Toschi e Meneghetti negli anni 1944-1946" [Arachnids from the Kenyan colony collected by Toschi and Meneghetti 1944-1946]. Commentationes della Pontificia Academia Scientiarum (in Italian). 13: 309–492.
- Kioko, Grace M.; Marusik, Yuri M.; Li, Shuqiang; Kioko, Esther N.; Ji, Liqiang (2021). "Checklist of the spiders (Araneae) of Kenya". African Invertebrates. 62 (1): 47–229. doi:10.3897/AfrInvertebr.62.58776. S2CID 234148710.
- Maddison, Wayne P. (2015). "A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)". The Journal of Arachnology. 43 (3): 231–292. doi:10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292. S2CID 85680279.
- Prószyński, Jerzy (2017). "Pragmatic classification of the World's Salticidae (Araneae)". Ecologica Montenegrina. 12: 1–133. doi:10.37828/em.2017.12.1.
- Wesołowska, Wanda (2007). "A new species of Langona from South Africa (Araneae: Salticidae: Aelurillinae)" (PDF). Genus. 18: 783–786.